Since the first of the current Hearing Research Center (HRC) laboratories was set up over 30 years ago, computers and associated instrumentation have been integral part of the way we do research. Both our physiological and psychophysical experiments are highly automated as is much of our data analysis. Most of our research involves the intensive use of computational models and the quantity of data generated by both experiments and simulations is accumulating at an ever increasing rate. Over the years we have also increased our translational research efforts and several of our faculty are now involved in developing technologies to aid patients with a variety of sensory and motor problems. The HRC is now well beyond the point where our faculty and students can effectively handle all of the necessary computer system administration, programming tasks, and equipment design and maintenance that is needed to support our research. The HRC Engineering Core was established 10 years ago to provide technical support to the center's scientific staff in order to improve research productivity, encourage innovative research, and support collaboration between laboratories. The Engineering Core is currently staffed by three very experienced full-time engineers with a wide range of skills in software and hardware engineering who provide a level of expertise and range of engineering skills that would be impossible for an individual research grant to support.